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2.
For the Record
•I’m a librarian who works in
digital spaces
•Currently: VP, Information
Architecture for Wachovia
•Pioneer in IA: First employee of
Argus Associates, spent 5 years
there developing their operation
& methodology
•MILS from University of
Michigan, 1996
http://www.mcphee.com/amusements/current/11247.html

3.
Overview
What went wrong
How we addressed it
How do we keep from doing it (wrong) again?
What can you learn from our mistakes?

7.
The Original Outcome
http://www.wachovia.com/personal/page/0,,327,00.html

8.
Usability Test Results
Tested Wachovia.com site during site-wide redesign;
users could successfully locate the investing center, but
couldn’t successfully navigate it
Users don’t understand
menu structure (select
one, series of steps)
Novice users particularly
confused
Expert users don’t find
scheme intuitive either
“If I were looking for
advice on where to start,
I’m not sure this would
be helpful at all.”
“Wording seems to be
confusing.”
Knows she wants to
invest in stocks. Comes
here to determine
whether or not she can
purchase stock through
Wachovia. She isn’t
sure.

9.
It’ s humbling to plan the
redesign of a redesign before
the redesign launches.

13.
Trust Factor
If this was to be a pretty typical methodology, how was
trust increased (and why did we expect a different
outcome)?
• Communication—it’s cliché, but can’t be stressed
enough
• Repetition—didn’t rely on trickle down (luxury of time)
• Pushed back on requests to compress discovery

14.
Redesigning the Investing Center
Discovery
• Clarifying the business needs
• Clarifying user expectations (conducted interviews with
Financial Advisors and customers)
• Involving the business in the process—asking for
specific kinds of engagement

20.
Discovery Conclusions
Business Needs:
• Tell the Wachovia story: what differentiates us as a
brokerage firm
• Provide more real-time market updates and fresher
content
• Focus the design on acquisition of new customers and
on funneling verified leads to Financial Advisors

21.
Sea Change
Focus the design on acquisition of new customers and
on funneling verified leads to Financial Advisors
How were we able to come to this conclusion, this time?
• More stakeholders around table in environment focused
on building trust led to more candid conversations
• The business units had more clarity about corporate
goals and interdependencies.

28.
Business Unit Reaction
• Had a hard time keeping the 3 approaches distinct—
tended to want to converge by combining the elements
they liked and removing the elements they didn’t—had
to ask them to trust us & the usability testing process
• Very skeptical about filter approach
• Preferred portal approach

30.
Usability Testing Results
Needs & Tasks
• Novice users responded extremely positively
to wizard (wanted to be sure it would be useful
to them and not just a tool to gather marketing
info)
• Expert users generally successful (skeptical
about wizard)
•Life Event Planning: generated high level of
appeal across board

31.
Usability Testing Results
Filter
• Users rejected the filter—they felt confident
self-identifying the categories and either didn’t
like the idea of answering questions or only
wanted to do so if the result would be more
tangible (e.g., advice)
• Novice users were less clear about whether
or not they wanted advice
• Expert users readily self-identified

32.
Usability Testing Results
Portal
• Those who didn’t like it felt there were too
many choices; others not bothered by this
• No one understood the Current Customer
category, didn’t like duplication in options
• Expert users liked the Investing Choices
category

37.
Conclusion—for us
• Rebuilding trust required focusing as much effort on
nurturing the relationship as on our design efforts
• The final product is a user-centered design that we
expect to be popular with our users
• The relationship with the business unit is such that we
look forward to working with them in the future (and
hope they feel the same way)

38.
Conclusion—for you
• Examine situation from every angle; decide what
you’re willing to “own”
• Balance eating humble pie with reputation
management
• Anticipate the effort required in relationship
management as part of the project planning process
• Don’t underestimate the importance of SME
• Use usability testing to validate recommendations